A proposed on-line database of Indigenous Astronomy

Ray Norris

23 January 2012

The literature on Indigenous Astronomy is scattered over many sources, including journals, unpublished manuscripts, and manuscripts which can be viewable only by appropriately authorised people. We wish to construct an online database to make this information as accessible as possible, as a resource for researchers in this field. The following is a preliminary specification, and is not rigid - suggestions for doing it in a better way are warmly encouraged.

The database will be

· on-line

· searchable (e.g. search all fields for "Moon")

· accessible by members of the public

· have permissions so that any record may either by public or viewable only by authorised researchers

· easily updatable by authorised researchers who may have only limited IT skills

· maintained on a commercial web host

It will consist of two parts (which may either be separate or be parts of one relational database).

1) The literature database

Each record refers to one piece of literature, and will consist of the following fields:

· Reference (e.g. Stanbridge, W.E., 1857, “On the astronomy and mythology of the Aborigines of Victoria”, Proc of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, Transactions 2, 137-140.)

· Short description (e.g. "Important early work about aboriginal astronomy. Describes the constellations and a little of the mythology of the Boorong people from around Lake Tyrill.")

· Link to an html abstract (for Google scholar)

· Link to a full pdf, which may or may not be publically viewable.

· Permission 1 is this record publicly viewable

· Permission 2: is the pdf publicly viewable?

·

2) The story database

Each record refers to one story or tradition, and will consist of the following fields:

· Citation to the literature database or other origin (e.g. "Told to Ray Norris by Yolngu elder Jo Smith on 1/4/2011 at Yirrkala")

· Up to 500 words describing the story. (e.g. Informant said that the Moon-man, Ngalindi, was a very fat man (the Full Moon) who was attacked for being lazy. His wives and sons chopped bits of him, making him the waning Moon, until he died - the Full Moon")

· Free-text field describing authenticity, limitations as to use of the story

· Language group (e.g. Yolngu)

· Astronomical bodies or phenomena mentioned in the story (e.g. Mars, eclipse)

· Geographical Origin (e.g. Yirrkala)

· Link to the literature database or a separate pdf, which may or may not be publically viewable.

· Permission 1 is this record publicly viewable

· Permission 2: is the pdf publicly viewable?